I''eb, II, 1899.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
109 
prisonment, instead of imprisoninent only. Other 
changes are a six years' close time on caribou, which are 
fast disappearing. Regarding deer, we propose to change 
the open season from Oct. i to Dec. 15, instead of Jan. 
I, as now. In eight counties of the State it is proposed 
to give permission to take one deer for food purposes 
during the month of September, on the payment of a 
$6 fee by non-residents and $4 by natives. There has 
been much criticism about this act, but the Commission 
is satisfied that it is for the best interest of all concerned. 
The chief reason for it is our want of funds, and we be- 
lieve that no more deer will be killed than now. Many 
of the September camping parties have Winchester rifles 
for fishing rods, and the slaughter has been large. Our 
best guides fav^or the measure, and will see that it is not 
abused. Thirteen thousand deer were killed last year, 
and yet there were never so many of the animals as now. 
We also propose that visiting sportsmen shall be allowed 
to send home a limited amount of game and fish by pay- 
ing a nominal sum for a shipping tag, thereby not being 
compelled to accompany it, as now. We want. your sup- 
port in these matters, which I assure you have been care- 
fully thought out for the very best interests of the State." 
Mr. Carleton was very eloquent and received a hearty 
round of applause. 
Mr. L. G. Blair was the last speaker of the evening, 
and at midnight the twelfth annual banquet of the Me- 
gantic Chib had gone to join its fellows of the past. 
W. R. Scott. 
Adirondack Hounding. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
You published a letter in October last, in which I la- 
mented the sentiment in favor of hounding, which is not 
losing ground to any appreciable extent among the hotel 
keepers and guides of the Adirondacks. Adirondack 
papers have printed the article, with comments to the 
effect that I didn't know what I was talking about. I 
wish I had been wrong, and that the guides, and hotel 
keepers were more aJive to their own interests than I 
gave them credit for being. 
The Adirondack Guides' Association cheerfully passed 
a resolution in favor of thrity days of hounding the other 
day, and State Senator Chahoon, who is on the Senate 
Committee of Game and Fish, pops up serenely with a 
bill advocating hounding for a few days — thirty odd. 
Just enough, that is, to make the breeding of hounds and 
training them in the deep snow of winter a business 
worth the while of some of these same guides. In the 
played-out districts about the Saranac and Fulton Chain 
of lakes the hotel keepers want hounding allowed, so 
that their guests won't have to go so far after game. 
Elsewhere the hunters could get along without the dogs. 
If I were not so entirely selfish in the matter, I should 
say, let them float for deer from July to September, and 
thereafter allow hounding so long as a paying customer 
could be found to stay on the runways. A month for 
the training of dogs during deep snow_ time would be 
convenient, but not necessary. But I wish to go to the 
Adirondack's still-hunting for deer once in a while, and 
I would find it as difficult to advocate so wide open a 
policy as I would to advocate any length of hounding 
season, no matter how brief, for the simple reason that 
a day's hounding invites wholesale violations to keep the 
hounds hard and in training, 
I wrote to the Senate Committee, of which Hon. Mr. 
Chahoon is chairman, about the deer matter. The Hon. 
Elon R. Brown, of the Thirty-fifth District, replied: 
"Albany, N. Y., Feb. i. — Mr. Raymond S. Spears, 
Esq.. New York City. Dear Sir: I think the Senate 
Committee will agree with you on the deer question. I 
am wholly of your opinion. Very truly yours, 
"Elon R. Brown." 
That makes things look better. Nevertheless, the 
guides and hotel keepers have my compliments. In their 
way they stand unrivaled. But this must not be con- 
strued to mean the woodsmen proper — the farmers, store- 
keepers, blacksmiths and the run of men who go hunt- 
ing, not to make a living, but to enjoy themselves. The 
real woodsmen are seldom, heard from in the press, but 
they outnumber the guides three to one, and in northern 
Herkimer county I believe four-fifths of the_ p'enuine 
woodsmen favor the present law of non-hounding. 
Raymond S. Spears. 
New York City, Feb. 4. 
Boston and Maine. 
Boston, Feb. 4. — Messrs. Bradley, Mann and Stead - 
man are back from Mr. Bradley's hunting preserve ar, 
Stono, S. C. Quail were very plenty, and all wantei 
were taken. Duck and snipe shooting was also fairly 
good. They shot deer as soon as they were wanted, and 
kept the table supplied with venison. But the most ex- 
citing hunting was that of wild boar; a good many of 
these animals are still to be found in that part of the 
South; they are fierce, and even dangerous to hunt, and 
have to be followed through interminable thickets, 
swamps and briar patches. 
It is pleasing to be able to state that the hunter's li- 
cense measure was virtually killed before the Commit- 
tee on Fisheries and Game in the Maine Legislature on 
Wednesday, the vote of the committee being to refer 
the measure to the next Legislature, that body not con- 
vening again till 1901. The proposition to leave the en- 
forcement of the game laws to the county attorneys and 
sheriffs was also killed before the same committee, by 
a vote that it is "inexpedient to legislate" on such a mat- 
ter. This effectually disposes of these two propositions, 
unless the schemers introduce bills of the same nature 
in either house, wdiich they threaten to do. There still 
remains the proposition to allow hunters to shoot deer 
in September, for food purposes, by paying $6 a head 
for the privilege. But it is very certain that this meas- 
ure also will meet with something of the same fate as the 
others, though Commissioner Carleton has advocated 
it. The feeling now is that the game and fish laws' of 
Maine are better left about as they are, with the possible 
exception that it v/ould be well to open the last half of 
September to the hunting of deer, and to take off the 
open season the last fifteen days of December. Boston 
gportsmen are pretty generally in favor of the shorten- 
ing of the open season on deer the last part of December, 
as it is certain that the snows are often deep at that time, 
and that it is then that the snowshoe and crust hunters 
often get in some of their worst work. The opening of 
the last half of September would give law-abiding sports- 
men a chance to combine a little fishing with shooting in 
that State. 
Feb. 6. — The annual dinner of the Megantic Fish and 
Game Association, Saturday evening, was a pronounced 
success. Two hundred men assembled at Hotel Bruns- 
wick, and everything was cheerful and bright from start 
to finish. The speaking was done chiefly by President 
W. A. McLeod, L. T. Carleton, chairman of the Maine 
Fish and Game Commission, and Mr. Caspar Whitney. 
Mr. Carleton, who is greatly in earnest about the future 
of big game in Maine, spoke somewhat in defense of the 
reforms he has urged in the Maine code of game laws, 
claiming that these reforms must come sooner or later, 
though probably laid on the shelf for the present session 
of the iLegislature. Though defeated in his efforts this 
time, he will continue to labor none the less earnestly 
for the good of big game in Maine, and hence for the 
good of sportsmen in general. His rearks were greet- 
ed with applause. He created a very favorable impres- 
sion, and several prominent sportsmen were heard to 
agree that they should like to follow in line with a fish 
and game protector — one who has done so much already, 
one who has the good of the cause so much at heart — • 
w^ere he advocating anything less obnoxious and hurt- 
ful than any system of licensing hunters. Mr. Carleton 
seems to earnestly believe that the only way to raise the 
much-needed funds to pay for big game protection is 
through some sort of special tax on hunters. Failing 
in this matter, he is for most careful and conservative 
legislation. Special. 
Game Interests around Rochester. 
Rochester, N. Y., Feb. 4. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The Monroe Sportsmen's Association, which was organ- 
nized in the winter of 1890-91 for the purpose of stocking 
the woods and waters of Monroe and adjoining counties 
with game and fish, took action to-day that is probably un- 
precedented in the history of such societies. Owing to 
the decrease of many of the leading spirits in its organi- 
zation, the Association has not been active for several 
years, and it is questionable if it would ever again have 
held a meeting had it not been for the discovery that the 
sum of $270 was deposited to its credit in a savings 
bank by the late Frank B. Bishop, as treasurer. The 
surviving members thought that the money might as well 
be appropriated toward the purposes of the club, and a 
meeting was held to-day at the office of Vice-President 
Fanning, where it was duly determined to draw the funds 
and divide them evenly between the Mitchell Preserve 
Association and the Genesee Valley Fish and Bird Pro- 
tective and Propagating Association, 
The following resolutions were unanimously adopted : 
Resolved, That this Association regrets the action taken by the 
Board of Supervisors of Monroe county in calling for the repeal 
of the State law that prohibits fishing with nets within a mile 
of shore in Lake Ontario. 
Resolved, That the good effect of the present law in protecting 
spawning grounds is so apparent to us as anglers that we would 
regard its repeal as disastrous to the great question of restocking 
Lake Ontario with food fish. 
Resolved, That the secretary furnish a copy of these resQlwtlons 
to each Member of Assembly from Monroe county. 
It is understood that the associations above named that 
are to disburse the windfall will bring in quail and other 
birds to be liberated in this vicinity. 
The Mitchell Preserve Association has several thousand 
acres of good ground under lease, and if it can keep 
market shooters out of its covers, ought to make a satis- 
factorj' showing. I am in hope that they w"ill lay out 
some of the money to stock their fields with pinnated 
grouse, for the prairie chicken ought to have a chance 
in his native land. With his experience in wintering 
Western blizzards, the bird would be in no great danger 
from the cold, and he might escape other enemies long 
enough to become acclimated and perhaps secure a per- 
manent footing in western New York. The experiment 
would be interesting and not expensive. 
E. Redmond. 
The Lacey Game Bill. 
Philadelphia, Pa. — Editor Forest and Stream: I read 
with much interest Mr. W. G. Van Name's earnest and 
courteous- communication on the Lacey bill in Forest and 
Stream of Feb. 4. 
There are some points which I presented in the previous 
letter to which he refers, which I think he passes over 
with less consideration than they deserve. 
For the sake of the argument let us assume that the 
Lacey bill is passed, and that the Government is ready 
to go on with its beneficent work in "the propagation, 
distribution, transportation, introduction and restoration 
of game birds and other wild birds useful to man." These 
are "wild birds." 
Now, will Mr. Van Name be so good as to state where 
the commission is to obtain the necessary wild birds? 
Nothing but an absolute, practical explanation on this 
point will serve the purpose, for if the advocates of the 
bill do not know where the supply is to come from, who 
then does know? If Mr. Van Name or anyone else 
can give this question a definite answer, I will freely ad- 
mit I am in error, inasmuch as I do not think that a 
supply is possible, and if there is no stock to draw 
upon, the commission in this respect must be therefore in- 
operative and a failure. 
The State rights in the matter of its own domestic af- 
fairs are supreme. This was settled absolutely in respect 
to the Connecticut case, passed upon by the Supreme 
Court, and frequently referred to as authoritative and 
conclusive on this point. Without the permission of _ a 
State, Congress could not turn loose any birds in its 
covers, nor could it take wild birds out of a State which 
had a law prohibiting such taking. In short. Congress 
could not propagate, distribute, introduce nor restore 
game birds in any State without the permission of such 
State. 
The interstate commerce law, to which Mr. Van Name 
refers, is not applicable to the case in question, since it 
only applies to commerce between the States, a distinctly 
different matter from the ownership and sovereign con- 
trol of the game birds within its limits. 
If Mr. Van Name will explain how the game birds are 
to be obtained, it will be next in order to consider what to 
do with them, but without the game birds all other con- 
siderations are idle in this connection. 
L. A, Childress. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Way Down io Egypt Land. 
ChicagOj 111,, Feb. 4, — A personal letter from State 
Game Warden Harry Loveday reaches me from Kenton, 
111., which I take to be in that part of the State known 
as Egypt. Mr. Loveday is trying to see what he can do 
in the way of leading sportsmen out of bondage in that 
country "Evidently he is making trouble for the market- 
hunters, and he deserves the well wishing of all the de- 
cent sportsmen in the country. He writes : 
"I have commenced suit in fifty-six cases in this coun- 
ty for violations of the game law. The class I find here 
are the worst of all, trappers and shippers to St. Louis 
market'. Some 2,232 birds are represented in these cases. 
You can have an idea of how these rascals are exterminat- 
ing the game when you know that this number of birds 
were in transit in two days ! Every package of "butter and 
eggs from the town of Parrish in those two days turned 
out to be quail and rabbits. This county escaped last year 
for the reason that I did not have time to attend to it my- 
self, and the cases left in the hands of the State's attorney 
were not prosecuted. I have just got through with Wash- 
ington county. Only five cases, four are convicted, but 
one got away and went out of the State." 
Inquiries. 
A gentleman at Caldwell, Kans., asks me for' the ad- 
dress of some persons who are selling thoroughbred stag 
hounds. I must refer him to the advertising columns of 
Forest and Stream. 
A gentleman of St. Paul, Minn., asks for the addresses 
of reliable Chicago firms who sell nets and seines. Once 
more I must refer him to the advertising columns of the 
paper. 
Mr. John J. Huddart, of Denver, Colo., writes: "Can 
you inform me where I can purchase some smartweed seed 
for sowing around the edges of our lakes for duck feed?" 
I would refer Mr. Huddart to that thoroughgoing sport&r 
man, Mr. W. A. Wheatley, of Memphis, Tenn., who has 
been prominent in stocking the famous Wapanoca pre- 
serve. I think Mr. Wheatley can give him the informa- 
tion. 
New Illinois Laws. 
The usual grist of new game law bills is now on hand 
at the Illinois Legislature. There is no so-called sports- 
man's measure this year as j'et so far as I am able to learn, 
but Warden Loveday has introduced a bill framed on 
lines which he thinks will be desirable. A salary for the 
State warden and a shooting license to raise protective 
funds seem to be conspicuous features. No bill is passed 
until it is signed. According to Warden Loveday, nothing 
can be done to stop the cold storage of game. Comment 
is idle at this stage of operations, but I must sadly admit 
that it seems itseless to hope that Illinois will stop spring 
shooting or stop the storage of game, or come into- line 
with the main features of the bill adopted at the Interstate 
Wardens' convention, to which excellent measure atten- 
tion has been so frequently called heretofore. 
The "Plant** in Tennessee. 
Mr, W. R. Sims, of Memphis, Tenn., writes me that he 
hopes during the present session of his State Legislature 
to get a bill passed stopping the sale of game in his coun- 
ty, and in the whole State if possible. He says: "In 
this way you strike at the very root of the evil." There 
is no doubt of the truth of this last statement, but Mr, 
Sims is in error in thinking that we have such a law in 
Illinois. If he will write to Mr. C. E. Whelan, Madison, 
Wis., the latter will send him a copy of the interstate bill, 
which may be of benefit. E, Hoi;gh. 
1200 BoYCE Building, Chicago, IlL 
Nofth Carolina Game, 
Hamilton, N. C, Feb. 4. — I left the village a few 
afternoons ago after 3 o'clock and found six coveys before 
6 o'clock P. M. I bagged ten birds. Two were very 
large coveys, one the largest I ever saw. All were within 
two rniles of the village. Old Leggings. 
Mr. J. L. Kearney sends us a copy of the New Berne, 
N. C, Journal, which reports: "The present season has 
been a splendid one for sportsmen in this section of 
North Carolina. Bears have been plentiful, and it is esti- 
mated at least fifty carcasses have been brought to this 
city, besides a number of hides taken from these animals. 
Deer have also been shot very frequently, while the 
feathered tribe have furnished plenty of the finest shoot- 
ing. A few days ago two hunters brought in 105 
partridges besides other birds in a huiit of less than two 
days." 
The Sportsmen's Show. 
New York, Jan. 31. — Editor Forest and Stream: We 
take pleasure in advising you that the Sportsmen's Show, 
tinder the auspices of the National Sportsmen's Associa- 
tion, has been extended three days, making the dates 
March 2 to 15, Simday excepted, at Madison Square Gar- 
den, New York. 
The programme of the water carnival to be given in 
connection with the exposition is now ready, and will be 
sent on application by Secretary J, A. H. Dressel, 280 
Broadway, Room 184, New York. 
Sportsmen's Association. 
New Hampshire, 
The Bartlett bill to establish a new game and fish code 
for New Hampshire failed to pass the House. Tlie fea- 
ture of the measure was to make the landowner the sole 
possessor of the game. 
